Financial Freedom Seminar

One of the most depressing things about the current state of education is that public schools do not teach any sort of personal finance curriculum. As a result of this, our young people enter the world without an understanding of basic financial principles. Therefore should it really be surprising when so many people end up saddled with horrible credit card debt, student loan debt and, in some cases, facing bankruptcy. I think that, regardless of where a person is in their financial life, that taking a moment to enroll in a financial freedom seminar could really have a lasting effect on one's pocketbook. Once a person understands personal finance, which so few do since it is not taught in school, they have a chance to really take control over their finances, get out of debt and create a healthy financial future.

There are a couple of types of financial freedom courses that are available to ordinary people and both can make a major impact in the way that a person lives their life. The first is a local, live seminar that is put on by a group or traveling financial expert. However, these happen only occasionally. The other option is an internet course that teaches the basics of personal finance. There are many websites that offer these courses, most of them are entirely free of charge, and they cover topics of everyday finance that can actually make a difference in people's lives. And I do not mean small, unnoticeable changes. I mean major changes that effect the lifestyle that a person is able to live.

Let's look at the way that personal finance can make a difference in an average person's life. For instance, the typical American makes $35,000 a year in salary and has more than $5,000 in debt. Because the average salary is so low most people live paycheck to paycheck, only having enough money to make the payments on this month's bills. Over time, living paycheck to paycheck has horrible consequences that take a terrible toll on a person's financial well being. For instance, let's look again at the average American. Each month they are faced with a credit card bill and they can only pay the minimum balance due. Because of this, and the way that the interest works, their debt actually continues to get larger. Even as they make their payments every month, they are falling further and further into debt.

A seminar which teaches money management can teach our ordinary American how to arrange their payments so that, instead of falling further and further into debt, they actually start to climb out of debt. The fact of the matter is that if the average American knew how to properly negotiate with their creditors they could get their interest rates slashed and their minimum payments would go down. And then if they continued to make the same payments, their credit card debt would actually start to decrease. Imagine that!

I know that so many financial planners get called "gurus" and made fun of, but the fact is that they are providing a very useful service. At a financial planning website, a so-called guru, like Dave Ramsey or whoever, actually teaches ordinary folks how to get out from under the weight of crushing debt. And then, once a person is free from credit card debt, they can actually start planning for their financial future.

For me, the biggest service provided by financial freedom seminars is that they teach basic investing. It is unfortunate that the typical American does not know the first things about investing their money so that it will grow over time. The average American is so busy making ends meet that they simply do not have the time or energy to worry about their future. But, just a simple understanding of personal finance can enable a person to truly accumulate a sizable nest egg that they can use for their retirement, or to buy a house or pay for their children's college.

In the case of ordinary American, let's imagine that they are 30 years old and making $3,000 a month. According to the retirement calculator at cnn.money.com, if they were able to save just 10% of that income ($300 a month), they would have more than $160,000 in cash when they were 65. And this is assuming a modest 7% return on their money. Can you imagine how much the typical person would be able to do if they had $160,000 in cash when they got ready to retire. And this is not even assuming that they had put that money into a Roth IRA, as the typical person doesn't even realize how a Roth IRA works!

So, to those who say that you need to be rich in order to finish with a lot of money, all I can say is that is a shame. Because so few people have been taught the basics of money management, they will never realize that their financial goals can be achieved if they would only take a minute and learn the basics of personal finance. So, it is my wish that our government get off their behinds and start teaching these matters to our children. And, until that happens, people will simply have to take it upon themselves to attend a financial freedom seminar.